


in hot water

by Alley_Walk (AlleyWalk_writes)



Series: The Blackout [2]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: AU, Dragons, Dreamwalking, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Innocence as Magic, M/M, Magical Illness, Multi, Nonbinary Alma Karma, Other, Parasitic Wyvern Timcanpy, Phoenixes, Platonic Romance, Shapeshifter Allen Walker, Shapeshifter Lavi, Supernatural Elements, Trans Allen Walker, Trans Female Character, defection from the Black Order, magically transitioned Allen Walker, restoring destroyed magical civilizations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21847618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Alley_Walk
Summary: Kanda Yuu knows he's dreaming. He's not sure how the fuck he knows it, but he does.What the fuck is going on?Kanda finds himself in a white hallway. But something feels distinctlywrong.And, surprise, surprise, when he looks down at his hands, instead of normal adult hands he has pudgy baby adult hands. He also recognizes his surroundings. Asia Branch.Fuck this. Fuck everything about this.Kanda hears a heart wrenching cry and a body hitting the floor.Alma.Alma is being restrained by the bloody, dead bodies of the scientists they had killed, their scythe arm dissipating with Kanda's dreamself laying dead in a pool of blood."Please let me go! I just want to be with Yuu!Please!"Kanda runs forward, trying to reach Alma. "Alma, it isn't real! Snap out of it already, you idiot!"But Alma looks through him like he's not even there, relief on their face. And then Allen pounces on Kanda, and rips out his throat.Kanda wakes up, pain searing through his throat. He can't breathe, and he knows that he's drowning in his own blood and can't quite help his amused laugh.Kanda's vision darkens, and then he blacks out.
Relationships: Jasdero & Devito, Kanda Yuu & Alma Karma & Lavi & Lenalee Lee & Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Alma Karma/Allen Walker, Komui Lee & Lenalee Lee, Lavi/Lenalee Lee, Timcanpy & Allen Walker
Series: The Blackout [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573966
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. sick of dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> This is Arc 2 of a new story of mine. Arc 1 ins't quite needed to understand it, as it wasn't as serious as this one will be, though it _could_ serve as an introductory Arc if you squint hard enough. XD However I am still writing this one with the purpose of having fun. There will be serious moments and there will be action-y moments and there will be angsty or fluffy moments. 
> 
> For now I'll give a brief explanation that Alma lived in the labs bc Allen was there, and Alma, Kanda, Lavi (who was still captured by the Noah), and Lenalee all defected from the Order to join Allen in living on the outskirts of the destroyed shapeshifter civilization, which Allen has been slowly restoring with his magic.
> 
> Good? Good!
> 
> On with the story!
> 
> Edit: I've realized that this fic doesn't quite make sense without the context of the first fic to go with it, so I've decided to try to either explain things in-story or in the notes. So if something doesn't make sense to you, just ask and it will be explained. Also, I should probably mention that since Innocence is magic, there is no fear of becoming a Fallen One in this 'Verse. Just thought I should make that clear to avoid any confusion.

Arc 2: A Meteor, (Promises It’s Not Gonna Hurt, Yeah)

Kanda Yuu knows he's dreaming. He's not sure how the fuck he knows it, but he does. He's drifting up through a vast endless void filled with bright shining lights of every color, some colors that have no name in Kanda's vocabulary. 

_ What the fuck is going on? _

Kanda wants to scream, wants to shout, wants to claw his own eyes out just so this vast endless void will  _ go the fuck away _ , but he finds himself voiceless, bodyless, caught adrift in an invisible breeze. Kanda fights tooth and nail for his freedom, but the breeze is inevitable, relentless. He winds through a chorus of lights all jangling for his attention, each one uniquely different from the others. But Kanda can't focus on that. 

Because the breeze is leading him towards a specific light. The light is a bluish purple with a heart of cobalt blue in the center, the heart swelling with so much love, so much affection that Kanda feels like he could burst, and then–Kanda stumbles on the smoothly tiled floor, startled by his sudden corporeality. But something feels distinctly  _ wrong _ .

And, surprise, surprise, when he looks down at his hands, instead of his normal adult hands he sees pudgy baby adult hands. And when he looks around, he recognizes his surroundings. Lab 7, in Asia Branch.

Fuck this. Fuck everything about this.

Kanda turns to the wall he had entered through and pushes with all of his baby adult might, but it's no good. The wall won't budge.

Kanda hears a heart wrenching cry and the sound of a body hitting the floor.  _ Alma _ . Kanda turns the corner to see Alma being held back and restrained by the bloody and dead bodies of the scientists they had killed, the scythe of their arm dissipating with Kanda's younger self laying still and silent in a pool of blood.

"Please let me go! I just want to be with Yuu!  _ Please _ !" 

Kanda runs forward, trying to reach Alma. "Alma, it isn't real! Snap out of it already, you idiot!" but what was it, exactly? What guarantee did he have that  _ this _ Alma was even real? No. He knew this, that some part of Alma, was genuinely being affected by this.

He wasn't sure how he knew. He just did.

But Alma looks at him,  _ through _ him like he's not even there, dread and relief on their face. 

And then Allen pounces on Kanda, and rips out his throat.

Kanda wakes up like a shot, pain searing throughout his throat. And he can't breathe, and he's aware that he's drowning in his own blood and can't quite cut off a choked off laugh.

Kanda's vision darkens, and then he blacks out.

* * *

Allen wakes up to the smell of blood. Lifting his head in alarm, he turns to see Kanda’s neck and chest absolutely covered in it, the blood dried to his skin. Allen’s ears twitch, but he can hear the rise and fall of Kanda’s chest and the beating of his heart, and he relaxes. Now to find out just what had happened.

So, Allen does what any cat would do and jumps on Kanda’s chest, kneading his claws into his shirt to get his attention. Kanda’s brow furrows, and then his eyes fly wide open. He stares at Allen for a second, and then he chuckles quietly, reaching to scratch behind his ears. Allen butts his head up against his chin, despite the blood. Then he licks it, because honestly it’s 4 AM and he’s a bit hungry.

Kanda stares at Allen’s mouth, obviously shocked. “Fuck.” Getting up carefully out of bed so as not to disturb Alma, Kanda covers up the blood on the sheets with the blankets and then carries Allen into the bathroom with him, placing him on the counter. Kanda examines his neck in the mirror, incredulous, and Allen transforms in a roar of flames and asks, “I’m guessing this was a surprise?” 

“A surprise would be the fucking understatement of the year.” Reaching around him, Kanda closes the door to the bathroom quietly and turns the tap on. The light isn’t needed, as both of them have perfectly good night vision, but Allen turns it on anyway, because he can tell Kanda’s been spooked by something.

“What happened?”

Kanda laughs. “I had a dream, that’s what happened.” He leans down and rinses off the blood with the tap water, faint red going down the drain. He leans over and grips the sides of the sink, hard. “Alma had killed dream-me and wanted to kill themselves, and you want to know the really fucked up part? I think that was Alma’s dream.”

Allen blinks, trying to process. “You’re saying you entered Alma’s dreams?”

Kanda laughs hoarsely. “Yeah. And then I was fucking killed by… well, that part hardly matters.” The way he cuts off abruptly makes Allen frown, and it occurs to him that Kanda had had a throat injury. A ripped out throat, perhaps by a certain wolf? And then Allen finds he can no longer look Kanda in the eye.

“Hey, Fucking quit that, you stupid beansprout.”

Allen bristles, turning to meet Kanda’s eyes challengingly. “Quit what, Mr. Girly Hair?”

Kanda smirks, but there’s a certain fondness to his eyes that softens his features. “Being an idiot.”

Allen laughs. “Only if you’ll stop first.”

Kanda snorts and hugs him, and Allen stiffens up for a moment. He realizes this is forgiveness. Kanda forgives him. That won’t help Allen forgive himself, but… Allen wraps his arms around Kanda, burying his face in the crook of his neck and just breathing.

Kanda pulls away first. “Do I still smell like blood?” 

Allen sniffs the air. “Hm. A little. But you could explain it away as a cut from shaving.”

Kanda nods. “Good. Now let’s get back to bed before Alma misses us.”

* * *

Lavi wakes up curled beneath the covers, Lenalee’s arm wrapped around him. Lavi takes a moment to enjoy her scent, and then sticks his cold nose into her armpit. Since Lenalee had worn a tank top to bed last night the resultant squeal of surprise is enough to make Lavi cackle on the inside. Lavi jumps on top of Lenalee’s chest with a fox-like grin, licking her face all over and making her bust out with laughter as she half-heartedly tries to fend him off. “Lavi!” She exclaims when she’s had enough, and Lavi jumps off of the bed and grins at her, tail wagging.

“You’re ridiculous.” She tells him, and Lavi just grins wider. “I’m calling first dibs on the bathroom. I think I deserve it for what you did to my face.”

Lavi gives a whiny scream of protest, it’s not like he could call first dibs! But his forepaws ache all the way up to his elbow, and his stomach protests at the thought of food, so with a shrug he climbs into bed and goes back to sleep. He wakes up, groggy and in pain he doesn’t know how many minutes later to Lenalee waking him, telling him it’s his turn to take a shower.

Lavi hops out of bed, transforming mid-leap and stumbling on the landing. Lenalee looks at him with concern. “Are you okay? I tried to wake you earlier, but you didn’t respond.”

Lavi flashes her a grin. “Nah, I’m fine. Just a little tired, that’s all.”

Lenalee looks at him doubtfully, and Lavi grabs some clothes and makes a strategic retreat before she can ask any more questions. Placing his clothes on the rack, Lavi starts up the shower and waits for it to be warm before stepping in. The soothing warmth immediately makes his legs go shaky, and he has to lean against the wall of the shower and breathe in and out, the water beating down on his head and shoulders. He washes his hair and body with shaking fingers, and when he gets to his wrists, he hisses in pain. 

Inky black blood splatters down onto the shower floor, slowly being washed down the drain as more leaks out from Lavi’s stigma, pain throbbing up through his arms and into his shoulders. Nausea churns in his stomach, and he just barely holds it back, retching into his hand. Lavi shakily turns off the shower, stumbling for the bandages he grabs them and rips the roll open, wrapping them around his stigma, the bandages darkening with something Lavi doesn’t want to contemplate. 

More steady now, he dries himself off and puts on his clothes, including the new eyepatch that Allen had bought him, though Lavi wonders how loosely the terms are between ‘bought’ and ‘stolen.’ He could be gambling for money; but that would get him run out of town fast by the nearest gang in the area. So the best way to earn funds was to go the pickpocket route, and Lavi wasn’t naïve enough to think Allen wouldn’t go that far.

Pulling on his long sleeved shirt, Lavi ponders this. They had to start making money somehow. They couldn’t keep just stealing stuff. If they wanted their city to work then they had to have a stable economy, a way for trade to come in and out of their doors.

An idea springs to the forefront of Lavi’s mind. He’s not sure if it’s workable or not, but he’ll bring it up with Allen and see. He should know if there are any biomes that are suitable.

Lavi walks down the stairs unaided, the smell of cooking bacon and eggs urging him on. Lavi had gained a lot more weight over the summer, though he could still be called unhealthily skinny by some people’s standards. At least no one expected him to regain a ton of non-existent muscle mass. They had always joked that Lavi was so light when it came to muscle mass that Lenalee could pick him up with her legs; really, it was no joke, Lenalee had more muscle mass than he did, or even Kanda when it came to her legs. 

It was so fucking hot.

Lavi seats himself at the table next to Lenalee, Komui sipping a cup of coffee at her other side. Lavi’s not even sure how he’s  _ here _ . Allen’s over at the oven, frying bacon and not looking nearly as worn out as he usually is from teleporting Komui here, which makes Lavi think that Komui just decided to invent his own teleportation device purely to take the strain off of Allen. 

Which is nice of him. Frankly, Lavi thinks Allen has been working himself too hard when it came to the restoration of their civilization. He had almost a frenetic energy about him when he talked about restoring the biomes, at which point when he was done he could start restorations on the city. (How many had he restored in the last month alone? twenty-seven. How many more to go? thirteen). They would be able to restore the city soon at the rate he was going, and there was an unspoken agreement that as soon as that happened they were going to drug Allen’s tea with a large dose of Valium and let Allen’s digestive system do the rest.

Allen and Alma come over and start putting down plates filled with eggs, bacon, and was that a full English Breakfast? Allen sets the plate in front of Kanda, and Kanda waits until Allen has set all of his plates down to squeeze Allen’s hand for just a second. Allen smiles at him, and Kanda smirks, pulling on Allen’s neck length hair teasingly. Allen huffs a laugh and sits down along with Kanda.

Lavi rolls his eye. Lovebirds.

Lenalee smiles at him and takes his hand under the table, and Lavi grins at her, squeezing her hand.

Okay, so maybe he was a bit of a hypocrite.

There are a couple different conversations going on around him, one being lead by Komui about what’s happening at the Order, another by Kanda about concerns for money. Lavi interrupts the second, saying, “I think I had an idea about that, actually.”

Kanda and Allen turn to him, and the rest of the table quiets as well, clearly listening. Lavi tilts his head and asks, “Do we have any biomes that would be good for agriculture?” When everyone is silent, Lavi explains, “we need to find a way to build an economy if we’re going to stay here long term, especially if we’re going to be inviting other people to live here. We need to invite trade, and for that we need something worth trading for.”

Allen nods. “It’s a start. I was actually thinking along the lines of selling our art, but, well, there’s only two of us who know how to make it at the moment, and, well…” 

And even if all of them knew how to make it, it wouldn’t be enough to trade with.

Allen smiles. “I think I know just the place.” His smile turns fond. “I’m a bit fond of it, actually, because I caught a rare form in the tundra biome next to it.”

Lavi perks up. “Really? What?” 

Allen crosses his arms, looking smug. “A draconian.”

Lavi sputters, then crosses his arms and boasts, “well  _ I  _ have a phoenix.”

It was Allen’s turn to sputter, and he gapes. “You’re  _ phoenixborn _ ?”

Lavi scratches the back of his head and looks away, embarrassed. “Yeah.”

Allen regains his composure quickly. “That must have impacted your life greatly.”

“Excuse me,” Komui says, “but what are you two talking about?”

“A phoenixborn is someone who is born once every generation, blessed with blood as pure as a phoenix’s. They were… well… basically worshiped as deities and Gods, the absolute ruler over… well, everything.” Allen explains.

“No.” Lavi denies.

Allen frowns at him. “‘No’?”

“That’s what the people were lead to believe, but really the phoenixborn was just a figurehead. The High Council controlled everything, and the phoenixborn was trapped in the middle.” 

“That’s why I escaped. I hid as an orphan, where no one in the High Council would ever expect someone of ‘my blood’ to ever be.” Lavi shrugs, and Lenalee squeezes his hand. Lavi grips hers tightly, even as his stigma throb.

Lavi grins. “So, Allen, how about a race?”

Allen laughs. “I think that’ll have to wait. We need to evaluate this biome, first.”

“How the fuck are we supposed to do that when we know fuck all about farming?” Kanda asks bluntly.

“Research~!” Komui sings, and he and Lavi both grin at each other.

This was going to be fun.


	2. rebound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> Got a new chapter for you all!
> 
> Trigger Warning for vomiting
> 
> Hope you enjoy! ^_^

“I can now happily say that I am an expert on temperate and tropical biomes.” Lavi says, pointing with one hand with the other carrying books under his arm. He’s not sure what time it is but last he checked it was around 3 AM. 

“Good, now go to sleep.” Lenalee says, smothering him with a pillow.

“Mmf,” is Lavi’s only reply.

* * *

When Lavi wakes up, it’s to find himself sprawled out across the top of the covers, books laying forgotten beside him. He rubs at his tired eyes and yawns, getting up off of the bed and snatching up his books while he’s at it. He takes a quick shower, ignoring the sting of his stigma, putting on bandages and a long sleeved shirt as usual. 

Rushing down the stairs, he exclaims, “You guys, get ready! Plan Cottontail is a go!” Allen, who had been in the middle of drinking his tea, chokes. Alma slaps at his back while Kanda catches the dropped mug, going over to sop up the spilled tea. 

Lenalee glances back at him with a wry twist to her lips, Timcanpy curled up asleep around her shoulders. “We’re still not calling it that.” 

Lavi sighs. “My point is, I can now definitively tell whether a biome is fit for growing things or not.”

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Kanda asks, getting out of his seat and heading for the door.

“Wait, Lavi hasn’t even eaten yet!”

Lavi shrugs at her with a grin. “That’s okay, I can eat on the go.” Grabbing a piece of bread and putting on a dash of butter, Lavi takes a bite, trying not to let his nausea show. He walks out of the house with the others and watches as Allen transforms into his draconian form.

Allen’s draconian form is beautiful, in Lavi’s opinion. He has feathery fur that refracts like a copper coin in the sunlight above, a large stripe of golden scaling going down from his long serpentine neck to the tip of his tail. He has a stripe of bronze scaling down his back, and the scaling on his underbelly and neck is pure silver. Allen’s long bat-like wings are copper on the outside and black on the inside, the black winking with silver starlight. He has gold scaling underneath each eye and two strong legs each with three rectangular toes that are flattened to the ground like a hand, the third toe pointing to the side like a thumb. Allen has long pointed ears and black starlit horns that circle around his ears, tapering off into a sharpened point. His eyes are slanted like a serpent’s, and a vibrant dark blue. 

Allen crouches down onto the ground, and all non-shapeshifters clamber up onto his back, Allen taking their weight easily. Now that Lavi thinks about it… 

He grins. “This is the time, Al! Ready, Set, Go!” With that he bursts into flame, a flaming tail streaming out behind him as his wings push him upward as he wings into the air, giving a challenging cry that Allen answers with a roar, launching into the sky and beating his great wings, catching up with Lavi surprisingly quickly.

Lavi soars through the sky, catching an updraft as he flaps his wings, gliding through the air on scorching wings. He’s slightly ahead of Allen, and Lavi rejoices. He’s going to win. But then Allen plays dirty, opening his great maw and suddenly Lavi is freezing, Lavi is falling. He bursts into flame, melting the ice that had encased his wing, but by then Allen is leagues away.

The cheater. 

* * *

They land in a huge clearing, the weather feeling hot and balmy around them. Lavi transforms back into a human to get a feel for it. The grass is soft and lush beneath his bare feet, with a huge tropical forest rising around them, with mountains sloping upwards in the distance. The air smells fresh and clean, with a hint of dew.

“Here, Lavi, put some clothes on.” Lenalee says, and Lavi catches the bag she throws at him. Lavi dresses, surreptitiously wrapping his stigma up with bandages.

“Is there something special about this one, too?” Alma asks doubtfully.

Allen grins. “I’m glad you asked! If you’ll follow me.”

Allen scampers towards the tropical forest like a kid in a candy store, and the others hurry to follow. Allen takes a large leaf off of a bush and says, “all of the plants here are completely edible. But they don’t just taste like plants.” With that Allen takes a bite out of the large leaf, chewing with obvious enjoyment. Lavi scents the air. It smells like plants to him. Shrugging, he takes off a small piece of leaf and bites into it and then moans as chocolate and caramel melt in his mouth. It’s like the leaf somehow transformed as halfway through chewing it.

“Lavi?” Lenalee asks, alarmed.

“You guys gotta try this stuff! Actually…” Lavi’s brow furrows. “Didn’t we sneak in here once for our birthday?”

Allen covers his mouth with his hand and laughs. “Yes, we did. We got so sick on sweets that we got thrown out, remember?”

Lavi grins. “Yeah.”

Everyone gets a little distracted “sampling” the trees at that point, so Lavi decides to take a better look around. He’s just decided that this place would be perfect for tropical farming when nausea churns in his gut, the ground dipping and swaying underneath his feet. His stigma throb and burn, scorching up through his arms and into his shoulders, digging into his shoulder blades. Lavi can feel fluid leaking from his stigma, and he leans over and vomits onto the ground. Black fluid spews from his mouth, splattering onto the ground. 

A strong hand seizes his wrist, and Lavi hisses in pain, retching and yanking it away. He looks into golden eyes and stumbles away, falling on his back and onto the ground. The Noah in front of him is hauntingly familiar, with curly slicked back black hair and a mole under his eye. Tyki Mikk looks down at his hand, covered in the sickness running through Lavi’s veins, and says, “you really should get that looked at, boy.”

But he’s not looking at Lavi. Lavi looks upside down and sees Allen standing behind Lavi with an unpleasantly-pleasant expression on his face. He smiles politely Tyki and says, “Thank you, Tyki. But I believe it would be best if you leave.”

Tyki turns and gives him a backwards wave, already walking away, though not without a backwards glance. “Alright. He’s _your_ friend.”

The Noah disappears into the trees, and with him any sense of logic or reason.

* * *

“What the hell, Al?!” Lavi exclaims, bristling and turning to sit up to look at him.

Allen sits down in front of him with a sigh. “Just let me explain.” He begs. “And can I please see your wrists?”

Lavi holds his wrists up defensively, curling them inward. “Why?”

“Because you know I can help you with them. Don’t you?”

Lavi frowns. “What are you talking about?”

Allen sighs. “Lavi, you have Dark Matter poisoning.”

Lavi uncurls from his defensive position. “Oh.”

Allen hesitates. “I can drain the Dark Matter from your veins which will make you healthier, but I don’t have enough control over my Noah abilities to isolate where the problem is coming from.”

“Oh,” Lavi says again, looking contemplative. “That’s probably going to be really bad for the plants, though.”

“Bad for the plants, but better for _you_.” Allen says, hesitating before wrapping an arm around Lavi’s shoulders. Lavi sighs, leaning closer.

He seems to blink himself awake, questioning, “what about Tyki?”

Allen sighs. “Tyki and I met once, and though it was not under amicable circumstances, the next time we met he asked for my help.”

Lavi snorts. “With what? Comitting a murder?” 

Allen smiles, amused. “No. He wanted aid and shelter from the other Noah. He’s defected from them. He said something about not being able to condone something they had been doing.” Lavi’s eye widens, and then he sucks in a sharp breath and hides his face in his knees. Allen can smell the fear, the realization on Lavi, so he places a hand gently on Lavi’s back and asks, “Lavi?”

“I don’t think I would have escaped, without him.” Allen stays quiet, waiting for more. “Tyki talked to me a lot, asked me things. I always thought he was taunting me, but to be honest, the conversations were the only thing to look forward to.” Lavi shakes his head at this, still not looking up from his knees. “And then… well. The locks they had on me, they were special, see. Magical restraints, so no Innocence or shapeshifting for me. When Tyki left it unlocked, I thought… accident. But maybe…” He looks up, eye watery.

Allen grips his hand, silent throughout it all. There was nothing to say. Not to this.

Finally, Lavi takes a deep breath and says, “You can start.”

Pulling on the Dark Matter within himself, Allen calls out the Dark Matter from within Lavi. It trickles slowly out of Lavi’s stigma, Lavi biting his lip to keep from screaming. Lavi pukes twice, but his cheek regain their color from their deathly palar from earlier, his eye brighter and the bags under his eyes lightening as he wipes sweat from his brow.

“Done?” Lavi asks.

“Done.” Allen agrees. 

They grab each other and stumblingly help each other up, and make their way back to the others.

“So what excuse are we going to use for why we were gone so long?”

Allen groans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I _did_ watch Charlie and The Chocolate Factory recently... 
> 
> (I have to say I much prefer the original plotline to the remake. The remake was just kinda... disturbing).
> 
> Anyway, for anyone interested in learning more about Timcanpy and a full description of him, you can find it on Chapter 1 of the first part of this series, just in case you didn't want to scan the whole thing looking for it. I think I might have underestimated how much background is really in the first arc of the story. I could try to fit it in here, but I'm not sure how I would. 
> 
> But if you don't care all that much, that's fine. It's just easier to understand with the background thrown in. 
> 
> Anyway, see y'all next chapter! ^_^


	3. sleeping beauty and chaos incarnate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all, guess what?
> 
> You get a DOUBLE UPDATE, just 'cause I'm real excited about the introduction of these characters. I have certain... feels about the twins, mostly from being a twin myself, which means that the twins have had some added characterization and could be considered OOC, but I'm not going to, bc honestly twin characters deserve some fucking autonomy from their siblings.
> 
> Trigger Warning for child abuse. 
> 
> There's also some lines taken directly from DGM canon, though only a few. I think it's obvious that I do not own DGM, otherwise I wouldn't be writing fanfic about it, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
> 
> Anway, enjoy! ^_^

Kanda knew it was just a matter of time before he had another fucked up dream again. He’s had several more in Alma’s head prior to this, which is why he isn’t surprised when after he falls asleep he finds himself drifting in the darkness of this endless fucking void, the inexorible force that carries him along tugging at his soul and whispering things that he can’t fucking hear. Kanda does a cursory struggle just for the heck of it, but decides that since it’s inevitable anyway he might as well fucking get on with it.

Now that he’s not struggling against the force that’s moving him along, he can take a closer look at all of the lights around him. As he passes by Alma’s, there’s another ball of light that catches Kanda’s interest. On the outside of the light is a calm pool of water swirling with the colors of red and white, and Kanda thinks he almost sees the red and white form into the mask of a politely smiling clown, if only for a second. A fire rages past the cool and calm waters, and in the center of the fire is a core of inky blackness that corrupts everything it touches. Shattered pieces of glass splinter off from the core of darkness, spreading out around it and singing discordantly.

_ no, no, no, _

_ why, Mana? _

_ it’s my fault _

That glass is covered in the black tar, the fire bleeding it from multiple scars and wounds, all contained by that calm pool of water. The water and the fire sing love, sing kindness, sing anger, sing  _ protect protect protect _ , and it almost pulls Kanda out of the force that’s moving him, because he’s now completely sure of whose light this is. 

But the inexorable force lurches into motion again, and Kanda comes upon two other lights. One is practically lit up like a lightbulb, bright and vibrant, with half burned and scorched masks floating inside its epicenter, contained and restrained inside a ball of glass. The other is a mix of green and red, burning defiantly with battle scars all along its light, inside its center puzzle pieces with human faces on them are slotted together creating a perfect whole, the light sitting inside of a birdcage with the door held wide open. Kanda is pulled towards the green and red light, feeling this time as he is pushed past the surface of this person’s mind, entering their dreams.

Kanda sticks the landing this time, finding himself in a cracked hollow broken into the stone floor. He’s in his adult body, and a child Lenalee lays at his feet, bloodied bandages wrapped around her arms, pooling to the floor. She has tears in her eyes, and Kanda can feel the tiredness, the pain radiating from her body as she stares up defiantly at the CROW surrounding her. Leverrier stands off to the side, and in Lenalee’s eyes he looms over her, a shadowy figure made from the depths of hell. 

“Lenalee,” he says, his words oozing threat and promise all at once, “you should know that it is not possible for you to escape.” Lenalee’s face twists and tears roll down her face, and Kanda feels rage bubble up hot and roiling in his chest.

And then the scene changes, warping and twisting around Kanda. Kanda has the weirdest sensation of being flipped and then pressed up against something, and then his vision clears. 

Tui Chan stands over him, and Kanda finds himself small again, and bare chested, restrained on a raised stone platform. He can feel Lenalee’s fear and confusion, and dread drops like a stone in Kanda’s chest. He knew what was about to happen. But the question was, would it affect him when he woke up? Would it affect Lenalee, somehow trapped in this body alongside him?

Tui Chan looks at Kanda-Lenalee and speaks. “Yuu, I’m going to do something that might be a little painful, but it’ll be over quickly.” Her expression hardens. “You’ll never wake up again.”

The Lenalee part of Kanda protests, “What, why would you do that?”

Tui looks at Lenalee-Kanda with pity. 

“Let’s begin, Chan.” Zhui says, and the runic circles crackle to life.

Lenalee-Kanda screams, the energy running through them like molten fire running through their veins, burning through them from the inside out. Kanda separates himself from Lenalee and draws it all into himself, the pain, the electricity and the magic coursing through their veins, sending Kanda sliding into unconsciousness.

* * *

Lavi digs into his Capiát, taking a bite of his Tális meat and relishing the taste of yakiniku that overlays the juicy meat. They had taken the Capiát from the tropical biome, which was apparently what any of the plants-that-didn’t-taste-like-plants were called. Allen had hunted down one of the (very large) multi-colored animals that lived there. The Tális had looked sort of like some giant dog-monkey, but the cool thing about its meat was that along with tasting like meat it also had an overlying flavor of your favorite food.

So they were all basically having salad, meat, coffee, and tea for breakfast. The three of them were, anyway. Lenalee had refused to be woken no matter how loud Lavi had been, so Lavi had shrugged and left her be, assuming she was tired from the trip to the biome yesterday. Kanda was also being a slug bug, much to Lavi and Alma’s amusement. Allen had been amused too, but there had also been an undercurrent of worry, much to Lavi’s fond amusement. Of course Allen would worry. It was just who he was.

Well, now anyway. He had been a lot different when Lavi had known him when they were kids. But then, Lavi had been plenty different too, and it wasn’t like they weren’t both wearing masks at this point.

But he had learned the new Allen, and Allen had learned the slight differences in the ‘Lavi’ persona compared to when he was Rabi. Honestly Lavi’s been so many different people that it’s hard to remember where the 1st persona begins and the 49th ends. But he manages. He has to, after all.

Even though he’s not sure if he wants to be a Bookman, anymore.

Lavi makes a gesture in the air and the globe of steaming tea floating in the air above the table undulates, a small amount separating and streaming toward Lavi, Lavi pausing the movement to blow on it before opening his mouth and swallowing it. Alma gives him an odd look. “I can still never get over how you do that so casually.” They say, making a face as they sip from their coffee mug.

Lavi grins. “You’re just jealous ‘cause you can’t do it.” It’s true in theory that because of their shapeshifter blood courtesy of Allen, they should be able to do things that any shapeshifter can do, including manipulate fluids with the help of an enchanted table. But so far the only one to have any luck was Kanda, and then only half of the time. Lavi thinks it probably has something to do with their emotional affinities, but he can’t say for sure without checking.

He takes another sip of tea. Allen is the one who introduced him to it, and he’s developed a taste for it, or at least the kind with caffeine in it. Allen is always chiding him about how unhealthy that is, but then Allen puts like, twenty sugars into his tea and calls that tasting it. He had explained that it was mostly habit, but Lavi wasn’t buying it. 

Timcanpy’s tail waves lazily in the air, his snake-like head buried in the tupperware container full of Allen’s blood that he was currently eating, churring with obvious pleasure. Allen looks at him with fondness in his eyes, but doesn’t run a hand down his back as Timcanpy is a little (read: very) possessive of his food. It’s not like any of them would take it, but, well. Being left alone half-starved with barely any food sources would make anyone a little possessive over their food, in Lavi’s opinion.

“So how’s your work with the Core doing?” Alma asks, looking at Allen worriedly.

Allen grins at them both, the bags under his eyes like bruises. “The biomes are nearly done! Then it’s just onto the city…” Alma and Lavi share a conspiratorial look. Lavi’s already thinking about that place in his room where he stashed the Valium. 

There’s an ear piercing scream from upstairs, and Lavi jolts out of his seat, alarm blaring through his chest. “Lena!” He runs for the stairs with his hammer forming in his hands, and his health is so improved that Allen and Alma only beat him to his and Lenalee’s room in the space of a few seconds. 

But there’s no threat. Lenalee looks a little shaken but otherwise unharmed. “Lenalee?” Lavi asks, eye scanning the room with his paranoia prickling.

“It was just a bad dream.” Lenalee says, embarrassed.

Lavi relaxes slightly. Bad dreams, he can handle. He sends a few hand signals to Alma and Allen, asking one of them to stay outside of the room just in case, and they both nod, Allen leaving Alma outside as he trots down the stairs.

That was odd. Lavi had been sure that Allen would be eager to be the one to guard the door. Shrugging it off, Lavi closes the door to their bedroom and asks Lenalee, “you okay?”

Lenalee nods, rubbing at her forehead. “Just a bit of a headache.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lavi asks, “You wanna talk about it?”

Lenalee sighs and shakes her head. “Not right now. Honestly, all I want is some chocolate cake and to see brother.”

Lavi wraps an arm around her with a mischievous grin. “Well we can see about getting you at least one of those things.”

Lenalee sighs. “You’re talking about the Tális meat, aren’t you?”

Lavi laughs and kisses her on the temple, Lenalee pushing him away with a huff and a roll of her eyes. “C’mon, let’s go downstairs.” Lavi says, taking her hand. They walk down the stairs with Alma in tow and Lenalee stuffs her face with coffee and Tális meat, her brother promising to come over in a few days.

(Kanda still hasn’t woken up yet).

* * *

Kanda wakes up with a warm hand running through his hair, and he sighs, leaning into it. “Kanda?”

Kanda grumbles and falls back asleep.

* * *

When Kanda wakes up the next time it’s with more coherence, at least he thinks so. He feels a warm body next to him. Alma? Then, where was… opening his eyes, he turns his head and meets the refracting blue gaze of a certain snow leopard sitting by his bedside. Allen’s ears prick at his movement, and then he moves forward and rubs his furry cheek against his, purring loudly. Kanda loops an arm around his shoulders, burying his fingers into his thick fur and trying not to shake.

Allen licks his cheek, his rough tongue making Kanda grin. Kissing Allen on top of his forehead, Kanda swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands, careful to avoid the creaky floorboards. He leads Allen into the bathroom, Timcanpy stirring in his dog bed on top of the dresser as they pass by and waking up with a questioning chirr. Kanda shakes his head at him, which is apparently invitation for the little bloodsucker to wing into the air and alight onto his shoulder. Kanda sighs, opening the bathroom door with Allen slinking into the room behind him, allowing Kanda to shut the door. Flames engulf Allen’s form, rising up and around him until Allen is standing in human form in front of him.

Living in a house with two shapeshifters, the non-shapeshifters of the household had had to get used to a whole lot of blatant nudity. In their culture there was no such thing as modesty or even a modicum of personal space, which tended to give humans the wrong idea. Kanda didn’t have that problem, as he has never and most probably will never be attracted to anyone in his life. He was fine with that, seeing as Alma had never seen it as a problem in their relationship, and now neither did Allen.

Timcanpy gives a concerned chirrup, poking Kanda on the cheek with his snout. Kanda bats him away. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, you little bloodsucker.” Timcanpy pulls his head back, and Kanda suspects that if he had eyes they would be slitted with serpentine amusement. 

“Do you have a headache?” Allen asks with obvious concern.

Kanda frowns. “No. Why?”

“Because Lenalee had one when she woke up.”

“Shit. Is she-?”

Allen lays a hand over his. “She’s fine. The headache went away with time and some painkillers. I suppose yours went away because of your healing factor.”

Kanda looks away, running his hand through his hair. “Did she wake up okay?” He asks.

“Yes. Mostly.”

Kanda scowls and breaks Allen’s hold on his hand to cross his arms over his chest, lifting an eyebrow. “What the fuck do you mean by ‘mostly’?”

Allen looks sheepish for a moment, before admitting, “she screamed when she woke up. But only a bit.” He adds, as if that could somehow make the whole thing better.

Allen doesn’t ask. He’s good at not asking. Not that Kanda has ever done the same for him.

Cursing, Kanda runs his hand through his hair again and says, “first, it was her. Then somehow it was me. Something that… happened to me.” Kanda looks away and then quickly changes the subject. “I saw your light.”

Allen turns his head at him, politely confused. “My what?”

Kanda blinks. “Oh, right.” He hadn’t really told Allen about the lights yet. They hadn’t seemed important, compared to the fucked up dreams. “When I dream, I don’t just automatically end up in another person’s fuck up headspace, or whatever the fuck. There like this weird fucked up void, and some sort of bullshit force that pulls me along that I can’t escape.” Kanda pauses to see Allen’s reaction to all this fucked up bullshit, but Allen looks thoughtful, and gestures for him to keep going when he stops speaking.

“In the void are these weird lights. I think they might represent everyone’s minds or dreams or some bullshit like that.” Kanda tells him.

Allen looks curious. “So what do they look like?”

Kanda describes all of the lights to Allen, Allen’s expression turning… complicated when his own light was described. It makes Kanda wonder what his own light looks like. But if he’s ever made the journey back there after being inside someone else’s light, he sure as hell can’t fucking remember it.

Allen looks thoughtful. “Maybe you should try to enter my dreams.”

“I can try I guess.” Kanda says dubiously.

Allen slings an arm over his forehead and sighs dramatically. “Kanda Yuu, boy of my dreams.”

Kanda snorts. “You wish.”

Allen laughs and then transforms into his clouded leopard form. Taking his cue, Kanda opens the door and slips out of the bathroom, Allen leading the way in front of him and leaping up onto the bed with cat-like grace. Kanda slips back under the covers, Timcanpy skittering down off of his shoulders to curl up near Alma, stealing their body warmth. Allen nudges himself up under Kanda’s arm, laying his head on Kanda’s chest with a content sigh. 

And Kanda sleeps.

* * *

They were having breakfast again, all six of them counting Komui, and everyone seemed to want to reassure themselves of Lenalee and Kanda’s wellbeing, much to Kanda’s annoyance and Lenalee’s good humor. Allen was just relieved that they were both okay. Whatever had happened in Kanda’s past had affected both of them this time, though Kanda seems to have taken the brunt of it. 

Honestly, Allen’s not sure what to do at this point, except to call in backup. He had already had to use mind magic to explain away Kanda’s sudden and abrupt one day coma to everyone, and he would rather not have to do so again. The only one he can think of who might know something is Lavi. He used to be the phoenixborn after all, a practical deity to the common people of Mirae, no matter how young he was when he escaped he must have some information that could be useful.

They’re having leftovers so of course Komui is experimenting, trying to deduce how the coffee of the meat and the coffee in his cup can both taste exactly the same, and Kanda is nursing a black cup of coffee and looking at the meat dubiously, poking at it with a pair of chopsticks as if it might bite him.

And then the literal incarnations of chaos barge in on Allen’s home.

The front door bangs open, making Kanda draw his sword and Lenalee and Lavi get to their feet. But Allen can already sense who it is, so he holds up a hand and grabs a couple of large Capiàt leaves, going to meet them.

“Hey Al, can we crash at your place?” Devito whines.

“Yeah, Sheryl’s being a total dickface!” Jasdero complains, slumping dramatically onto Allen’s couch. Devito drops himself right on top of her, which leads to a contest of who has the most vicious and pointious of elbows, which Devito loses with good humor, laughing and falling onto the floor.

“Are you guys hungry? We’re in the middle of breakfast.” Allen offers.

Both twins perk up with interest.

“Breakfast?” Devito asks hopefully.

“‘We’?” Jasdero asks, curious.

By now, Kanda, Lavi and Lenalee have come up behind Allen, and they’re all shocked to see who Allen’s visitors are.

“Are those the twins?” Lavi exclaims.

Devito grins and shoots Lavi a pair of finger guns, and then total chaos reigns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jasdero and Devito are literally chaos incarnate imo.
> 
> Also, "the Core" if no one has gone back to read the first fic, is basically the magic that sustains all life on Mirae, and what Allen has been using to restore it. You can get more info about it in the first chapter of the first part of the fic, but that's basically the most important bits, and I might write a piece with it later, as things are... developing on Allen's end.
> 
> Also, did anyone notice the subtle character metaphors in the lights? I really enjoyed coming up with them. ^_^
> 
> Alright, see y'all next chap!


	4. truces and pranks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> Got a new chapter for you all, which I hope you will all enjoy! ^_^
> 
> Lots of Jasdero and Devito in this, bc honestly I just can't get enough of those two (not them, y'know canonically, but with added characterization they're pretty cool). ^_^
> 
> Trigger Warnings for waterboarding.

Lavi has his hammer out mid-swing towards the two Noah, Lenalee flying through the air with Kanda’s Netherworld Insects worming their way through the air towards them, adrenaline running through his veins and a grudge deep in his heart. These bastards had used Lenalee against them when she was at her most weak and helpless, barely able to cast any magic without her weapon beside her. It didn’t help that with Kanda left behind Krory, Alma and Lavi had been the only ones able to fight them, though they had been oddly suited to the task.

It was weird though. The two Noah weren’t responding to the attacks, huddling together defensively. 

“Stop! We’re under Truce!” Allen shouts.

Shit. A Truce, with them? Still, Lavi pivots on his heel and turns his back towards the Noah, shielding them from his comrade’s attacks with the bulk of his hammer. Iron Hammer shudders under the assault, the reverberations travelling down Lavi’s arms. The attacks stop with a suddenness that is short of relieving. 

“Lavi?!” Lenalee shouts, confused as she hovers in the air above him.

“Stop.” Lavi pants, and his stigma give a sudden pulse of pain, and he holds back a hiss. Not now. Not now. Lavi turns his eye towards Allen, who is making his way past an energy wielding Alma in order to get to them. “We’re really under Truce?”

Allen nods. “Yes, we are.”

Kanda scowls, his katana still raised. “What the hell does that fucking mean? And who are these guys in the first place?”

Oh, right. Kanda had been left behind with Skinn and so had never even met these guys.

“You don’t know who we are?” Jasdero asks, looking put off.

“I think I’m offended.” Devito says, looking more amused than anything else.

“They’re the twin Noahs,” Lavi explains, and Kanda’s face clears with comprehension. They had all gotten a debrief on each other’s Noah opponents, after all. “We fought them in the next room after yours. They have the power to create anything with their minds so long as they’re both thinking of the same thing at the same time.”

“Hey asshole, we have names you know! We’re not just ‘the twin Noahs’!” Devito growls at him.

Lavi looks at him, not sure why he’s so upset but apologizing anyway, at least for the sake of the truce. He looks at Devito with a sheepish look that Gramps had made him practice in the mirror every night before bed when he was ten, along with a myriad of other expressions. “Right. Sorry.”

Devito crosses his arms and huffs, looking away. “It’s fine. Everyone does it.” Jasdero takes his hand, and Devito shoots her a smile, squeezing it quickly before letting go. There’s a chirrup of greeting from nearby, and then Timcanpy glides over past Lavi, landing on Jasdero’s shoulder and immediately beginning to chew on her hair. 

“Stop that,” Jasdero complains, exasperated. Timcanpy lifts his eyeless head up, letting go of her hair to flash her a smile full of needle sharp teeth. Jasdero smiles and tickles him under the chin with the butt of her plastic gun. Timcanpy purrs.

This is enough to make everyone in the room relax a little. Timcanpy wouldn’t trust just anyone. Lenalee drops, hovering just a few feet above the floor while Kanda lowers his sword slightly, Alma’s acidic green energy fizzling out around them. Lavi shrinks his hammer so it’s the size of his forearm and slings it over his shoulder, the red crystal hammer and black handle glinting in the Witchlights overhead. 

He’s really only not completely shrinking it so he can defend the Noah from his friends again. Really.

“So what’s this about a truce with the Noah?” Alma asks, frowning as they twirl their now unspiked staff in their hand. 

“Not all of the Noah,” Allen corrects, “just these two.”

“And Tyki,” Lavi adds, because he’s feeling particularly saucy about the fact that Allen has a truce with not one, but  _ three _ Noah. 

Alma’s eyes widen, but before they can say anything Kanda asks, eyes narrowed, “and why should we keep this ‘truce’?”

Lavi answers. “A Truce is magically binding. While you aren’t  _ exactly _ bound to keep your word, the consequences if you don’t keep it are, well. Let’s say ‘magical backlash’ and leave it at that.” The others all look at him seriously. Alma is the first to put their weapon away, and Lavi quickly follows, the rest following afterwards with Kanda giving the twins a final, hard look before sheathing his sword.

Lavi lets out a sigh of relief.

“So, does anyone want to finish breakfast?” Allen asks with a raised eyebrow.

The twins immediately perk up, and Lavi groans.

This was not going to be pleasant.

* * *

There was no need to grab any more chairs as as soon as the two Noah siblings reach the table they both look at each other, and two plush armchairs appear behind them. The two of them plop down on them with near identical sighs, the armchairs moving by themselves up to the table. Jasdero and Devito had seated themselves by Allen, sandwiching him between them for what seemed to be the express purpose of irritating him and making him uncomfortable.

The rest of the Exorcists were sitting tensely at the table while the two Noah twins talked and ate, Komui watching the whole thing with an air of morbid fascination, like someone watching an impending trainwreck.

“So what brings you two here?” Allen asks the two Noah.

Jasdero shakes her head while Devito sighs and throws up his hands, both exclaiming nearly in unison, “Sheryl!”

“He’s an annoying dickhead,” Jasdero says, wrinkling her nose.

“And then we might have accidentally mentioned you off-handedly and now he won’t stop asking us about you.” Devito says.

“What do you mean by ‘we’? You’re the one who mentioned him at dinner the other night.” Jasdero says to Devito, annoyed.

“You traitor!” Devito wails.

“That’s Tyki, actually.” Allen repostes, and both twins laugh and slap him on the back. They must have slapped him hard enough to leave bruises, to make Allen wince like that.

“So how’s reconstruction going with that Core Thingamajig?” Devito asks curiously.

Allen beams. “The biomes are completely finished, actually. Now we move onto construction in the city.”

“Cool,” Devito says, as everyone else at the table tries very hard not to look at each other, and only somewhat succeeds. Lavi excuses himself to go to the bathroom a few minutes later but is waylaid by Devito in the middle of the hallway. 

Lavi stops warily as he asks, showing none of his wariness on his face, “yeah? What is it?”

Devito grins. “We want in on whatever you guys are planning.”

Lavi blinks. “Huh?”

Devito scoffs. “C’mon, man. You’re all obviously in on this thing, and we want in too. You know me and Jas’s powers can make any prank twice as good as anything you were going to come up with.” 

Lavi sighs. He knew he wasn’t going to get out of this, even if this still technically wasn’t a prank. “Alright, so here’s how it is…”

* * *

When Allen wakes in the middle of the night he finds himself gellantenously stuck to the ceiling of his bedroom, and he coughs, spitting silver glitter out of his mouth. His body turning to flame, it quickly melts through the gel surrounding him, roaring to the floor as he lands on all four feet into his snow leopard form.

_ This. Deserves a revenge pranking. _

* * *

The revenge pranking that ensued mostly consisted of Allen waiting until the right moment to jump out of a closet in the darkened hallway to give his fellow housemates a jumpscare, his white form making him look quite ghostly. His first victim was Kanda, who of course, wasn’t fooled at all and had simply smirked at him and walked away. And then a ghostly fog had begun to drift into the hallway, and amongst the fog Allen could see flickers of a dark and ghostly figure.

Inwardly, Allen cackled with delight.

Allen and Kanda’s next victim was Lavi, who had gotten quite a good scare from both of them and declared the goop that Allen had wiped on his shirt to be ectoplasm. Since Lavi was quite terrified of ghosts Allen felt this might be a bit of a pyrrhic victory. He was proven correct when Lavi started to try to banish the ‘ghosts’ with fire and ash, nearly burning the hallway down until Lenalee came and knocked some sense into him.

By then, Allen and Kanda had both mutually decided that the prank wasn’t worth their house being burned down, though the mortified look on Lavi’s face when he realized it was just them had been a sight to see. He had mumbled petulantly that the gel could look like ectoplasm under the right light, and Lenalee had herded him off to bed.

Allen had tried to escape back outside and to the Core, but Kanda had caught him by the scruff of his neck. “Oh no you don’t, you stupid fucking idiot. You’re staying inside where you can get a full fucking night’s sleep for once.” Allen hisses at him. “I know you don’t like it. Well too fucking bad.” Allen gives a yowl-growl of protest. Kanda sighs and slicks his hand soothingly through Allen’s fur, making a face at the slime that coats his fingers. “Alright. Bath first, then bed.”

Allen yowls again, his ears flattening.

“Don’t be such a wimp,” Kanda taunts him, and Allen growls, batting at him with barely sheathed claws. Kanda dances out of the way with a mocking laugh, calling insults over his shoulder as he makes his retreat, and Allen pursues, pouncing on him just as they enter the bathroom. 

Allen’s hackles raise as he remembers what they had been talking about a few moments before. Kanda looks up at him and strokes his furry cheek, making Allen’s whiskers twitch. “Hey,” he says, his eyes soft, “it’ll be okay. I’m here and they’re not. Alright?”

And Allen remembers being bound in magic muffling chains, stuck inside his own skin and unable to change and stinking like death as the CROW of Asia Branch lifted up a large hose and sprayed him in freezing cold water, the water pressure pounding against his face, his chest, so hard he couldn’t breathe.

Alma and Kanda had been his only friends at Asia Branch. Their artificial bodies had been mixed with his shapeshifter genes, making them stronger, faster, more graceful as well as gaining night vision, and in Alma’s case, a sharper sense of smell.

When Alma and Kanda had been at their breaking point, Allen had been there. Alma had broken, but in a different way, clinging to Allen and crying into his pelt, as things had been so chaotic that the CROW had not even noticed his escape.

And Allen had left them. At the time it seemed like he had no other choice. The CROW had missed his feeding time, and a hungry shapeshifter soon turned into a feral shapeshifter, and his hunger was such that by the time he realized  _ what _ he had been eating, (dead humans-so so many, so much fresh succulent flesh, the  **hunger** gnawing at his insides, insatiable) he didn’t know  _ who _ he was eating. He hadn’t even known, at the time, that he had been coherent enough to comfort Alma. That he learned secondhand. 

And so he left, to protect them.

(-and afterwards he searched and searched and searched, but he never found-)

He could only be grateful that they found him, nine long years later.

By now, Kanda has gotten him in the tub, and though his hackles are raised as ever the anticipation of the thing is worse than the actual action of it. Instead of ice cold water, he finds it a pleasant warmth, and because he’s in his snow leopard form it’s not nearly as scary as it would be if he were in human form. Kanda and Alma usually take alternating turns washing him, as the only time Allen had ever tried to set foot in the shower as a human the resultant spray on his face had left him as an animal for days.

It was embarrassing, because he hated depending on people, but at the same time he knew the alternative was going back to not bathing at all. Which Allen was pretty sure all of his friends would never allow him to do. They had even forced him to get his hair cut, though Kanda’s half-baked cut with Mugen’s blade was soon fixed by Lenalee and a pair of scissors.

Allen soon relaxes as Kanda scrubs the shampoo into his fur, the motion soothing, though he has the shampoo and rinse Allen’s fur three times to get all of the gel out of it, Kanda grumbling revenge on Jas and Devito the whole time. Allen thinks it rather fair considering all of them teamed up to prank and drug him. 

Allen finally steps out of the (now thoroughly dirty) wash water, Kanda draining the tub and then drying Allen off with a towel. Allen only shakes himself off once. Alright, maybe a few times. With a roar of flames Allen shapeshifts into a clouded leopard, now thoroughly dried off. Kanda shoots him a dirty look and throws the towel at him, which Allen dodges, hooking his claws into Kanda’s pant leg and climbing upwards until he’s perched on top of his shoulders. Allen rubs his head against Kanda’s cheek in a silent apology, and Kanda sighs and runs a hand down his back.

And that’s when Alma comes in, their eyes lighting up when they see them. “Hey you two! I was just looking for you. Did you know that Lavi just nearly burned the whole house down?” 

Allen and Kanda exchange glances, Allen shooting Kanda a cat-eyed smirk which Kanda returns. “Oh trust me, we knew about it.” Kanda says.

Alma gives them a smile, looking devious. “You’ll have to tell me about that later.” Alma’s eyes skip over Allen, not really looking at him.

Had that been deliberate? No, they must just be tired, that’s all.

Still, Allen sleeps a bit closer to Kanda than Alma in the bed that night. Oddly, Alma doesn’t seem to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this in a previous chapter, but when Lavi mentioned 'our birthday' he was basically saying they had the same birthday. They were both orphans (or Allen thought they were) so they picked a 'random date' i.e. Lavi's actual birth date.
> 
> So Allen's an April baby now. I don't think he would just change his birthday just because Mana adopted him on that day, so. Yeah. Sorry if that bothers anyone (it bothers me a bit tbh cause I'm really attached to Allen's b-day and all the baggage that comes with it, but this is just what made the most sense for the AU, so. *shrugs*)
> 
> Also this chap became a bit of an overview chapter/info dump chapter for anyone new who hasn't read the previous fanfic. For any old fans, I apologize.
> 
> Alright, see y'all next chapter! ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> So all of that happened.
> 
> Comments?
> 
> Kudos?
> 
> Curious to know what happens next of just wtf is going on with those two?
> 
> See y'all next chap! ^_^


End file.
